The British Columbia government plans to put up $915,000 for a one-year program to help get B.C. fruits and vegetables into the province’s remote communities.
The Produce Availability Initiative, announced Tuesday, comes in response to a pledge from Premier Gordon Campbell at the 2008 Union of B.C. Municipalities’ general meeting to provide fresh fruits and vegetables for remote areas.
The funding, flowing through the province’s housing and social development ministry, includes $215,000 for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of B.C. and Yukon, which will manage the one-year initiative and also co-ordinate an industry advisory committee.
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That panel will offer advice to provincial ministries on “key priority actions and how to create long-term efficiencies within the food distribution system to remote communities.”
B.C. Agriculture in the Classroom, meanwhile, will get $250,000 to establish group-buying by retailers and community groups in “select communities located off main highways.”
The AITC group will also institute “more efficient purchasing, distributing and storing practices for fresh perishable produce that will improve quality and quantity of produce in communities.” It also pledges to build on the successful provincial distribution networks established for the ActNow BC School Fruit and Vegetable Nutritional Program.
Also, the B.C. Paediatric Society will get $250,000 to provide supports and incentives to carriers to transport produce by ferry, plane or barge and over gravel roads, to reach remote communities.
And the First Nations Agriculture Council will get $200,000 to support the creation of community gardens in at least 10 First Nations communities by way of training, tools, equipment and small machinery. That funding will extend another ActNow BC program, First Nations Community Food Systems for Healthy Living.
“No matter where”
“All British Columbians should have healthy, local foods available, no matter where they live in the province,” Agriculture Minister Steve Thomson said Tuesday.
“B.C.’s new Produce Availability Initiative will help to improve the availability of B.C. grown produce, vegetables and fruit to remote communities, while promoting healthy food choices for people living throughout the province.”
“British Columbians in remote communities will have better year-round availability of produce including locally-grown produce, which contributes to improved health, quality of life and community spirit,” Ida Chong, Minister of Healthy Living and Sport, said in the same release.
“While the Produce Availability Initiative supports healthy eating programs in B.C. that encourage eating fresh fruits and vegetables, it also serves as a model of how we can make healthy foods grown in B.C. better available to remote communities.”
The provincial task force that developed this initiative consulted with “many” communities, including the Queen Charlotte Islands, Atlin, Chetwynd, Terrace, Stewart, Tofino, Kaslo, New Denver and Crawford Bay, the province said.
“Grocers and retailers in these communities were interviewed, and the food suppliers and distributors were consulted to help better understand the produce supply distribution chain,” the government said.
